For this biweekly journal, I will talk about my progress over the course of the two weeks. Similar to last week, I set challenges for myself to help improve my Korean learning progress. I tried to watch more Korean news and entertainment programs. I, unfortunately, did not have much time to watch Korean news, but I had the opportunity to start a new Korean entertainment program. I started a show called New Journey to the West 8. I talked about this program in previous cultural posts, and I will explain in more detail in my cultural post dedicated to this show. I have fallen in love with this series and I am glad that this series has continued even during the quarantine. I found that Korea as a country has been taking the coronavirus very seriously and have been able to contain the virus outbreak very well. As a result, the people even when it comes to entertainment programs take high precautions to ensure the safety of the staff and the entertainers. I found that watching this program and having them talk about how they are dealing with the coronavirus is both informative and helps with my ability to understand and comprehend the Korean language.
In addition, I have begun working at a ramen restaurant in a local city. I mention this because there are instances where Korean customers would come to eat at the restaurant. I had the opportunity to challenge myself and try to serve the customers using the Korean that I have learned over the years. I had to not only serve and ask them what they wanted but also be able to explain the menu and the items that were included in the ramen and dishes. During this experience, I found that I did a good job explaining to the customers what was on the menu, however, I also found that my lack of vocabulary made it difficult to accurately describe the menu. For example, bean sprout has two words in Korean. With the yellow bean on the vegetable, it is called “kong na mul,” but without the bean on and just the stalk, it is called “sook joo.” I did not know this, and the customers corrected what I said. Later that day I asked my mother about the difference between the two and she explained to me what the difference was. I am excited to have found another way to practice my Korean that is more interactive than just watching videos.
Finally, I continued to talk with my parents in Korean to ensure that I was constantly practicing how to speak Korean. I feel as though this skill will definitely come in handy in the future for my career. As I look forward to the next two weeks, I will like to set up the same challenges for myself. However, I would like to add another challenge for myself. I found that writing is also one of my weak points in the Korean language. As a result, I would like to practice writing by taking time to text my parents in Korean rather than in English. This exercise will force me to really think about what I am saying and be able to write it correctly. I mention texting as a way to practice, because there is an autocorrect feature on my phone, which can be used to help me learn and correct any mistakes I have made.
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